-Meaningful Passages-

“One evening, just at sunset, [Elroy Berdahl] pointed up at an owl circling over the violet-lighted forest to the west. ‘Hey, O’Brien,’ he said. ‘There’s Jesus.’” (Ch. On The Rainy River, 50)

This passage was taken from the early scenarios of the book, when Tim O’Brien is contemplating fleeing the country to Canada in order to dodge the Vietnam military draft. On his way O’Brien stays with a man named Elroy Berdhal in a small Inn located on the Canadian border. Berdahl never said much to O’Brien, and never asked what his reason was for staying, for Berdahl seemed to know what type of trouble our protagonist was in.

This passage is significant because it represents the simplicity and innocence that O’Brien seemed to embrace and cling to before he entered the war. Because the author chose this as one of the very few remarks made by Berdhal to write down, it most definitely had an effect on him as not only a character, but also a person. The reference to a beautiful animal, landscape, and raw simplicity of a religious concept all delivers a sense of peace and serenity; something that O’Brien will quickly loose upon entering Vietnam. This passage marks the beginning of a radical psychological shift in the protagonist, and a radical shift in the tone of the novel.

“[Mary Anne] was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues. She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill.” (Ch. Sweetheart Of The Song Tra Bong, 116)

This passage was taken from a secondhand war story told to O’Brien by his fellow soldier. The story follows a young American girl, Mary Anne, who was flown into Vietnam to spend time with her boyfriend stationed in a medic outpost. As the story progresses, Mary Anne slowly looses her girlhood innocence, and begins to pick up the psyche of a hardened soldier. This passage illustrates the final point in which Mary Anne was seen before she completely disappeared into the bush of Vietnam.

This graphic passage lets the reader know how radical a shift one can take from complete and utter innocence, to cold-hearted bloodthirstiness in Vietnam. This theme is constantly present in The Things They Carried, for the fact that O’Brien lost his sense of peace and innocence in the war is constantly referred to. While Mary Anne’s story is most likely exaggerated and partial speculation, it still represents the psychological concept behind Vietnam. This passage is the last known memory of Mary Anne to the characters, for immediately after this scene we learn that she has left the outpost for good. It can be seen as Mary Anne was almost consumed by the things that were Vietnam, becoming a tangible metaphor for the rest of the characters.

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